MOGADISHU Somalia (Xinhua) --Over 1.5 million people will face food crisis
amid pressing needs in Somalia, despite improvements in food
security, according to a United Nations-backed report released
in Mogadishu on Sunday.

The joint assessment
by the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit for Somalia (FSNAU),
a project managed by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, calls for urgent
humanitarian aid and livelihood support to avert the crisis.

“Over 1.5 million
people facing acute food security crisis or worse need urgent
humanitarian assistance and livelihood support between now and
December 2018,” said the report.

Findings from the
seasonal assessment, conducted across Somalia in June and July,
warn that in the absence of humanitarian assistance, food
security outcomes are expected to deteriorate to emergency in
parts of northern Somalia.

However, the FSNAU
says the 1.5 million figure represents a significant improvement
in the overall food security situation in Somalia compared to
the 2.7 million people projected to be in crisis or worse
between February and June.

“Through December
2018, an additional 3.1 million people are classified as
stressed, which brings the total number of people facing acute
food insecurity across Somalia to 4.6 million,” says the report.

The report calls for
urgent treatment and nutrition support for about 294,200 acutely
malnourished children, including 55,200 severely malnourished,
between now and December.

“Integrated support
interventions should be sustained to maintain recent
improvements as well as prevent further deterioration in the
nutrition situation,” says the report.

According to the UN,
food security has continued to improve due to
average-to-above-average rainfall between April and June that
contributed to seasonal improvements to food and income sources
and market conditions and the positive impacts of sustained and
large-scale humanitarian assistance.

The humanitarian
crisis in Somalia remains one of the largest and most complex in
the world, and aid agencies say the shortfall in funding
jeopardizes efforts to build Somalis’ resilience to shocks.

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EARLIER
REPORTS:

UN official calls for sustained
aid to Somalis affected by conflict, drought

MOGADISHU Somalia (Xinhua) -- The UN envoy in Somalia has called on the
international community to sustain assistance to people affected
by conflict, 2017 drought as well as this year’s devastating
floods and cyclone in Somalia.

Justin Brady of the
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned
that although the overall food security has improved in Somalia,
a significant portion of the population remains food insecure.

“We are on a
positive trajectory, but the number of people in need remains
high particularly among the rural populations and the urban
poor,” said Brady who spoke on behalf of Humanitarian
Coordinator Peter de Clercq at the release of the latest food
security and nutrition assessment results by FAO’s Food Security
and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU) in Somalia.

“The repeated
humanitarian emergencies have resulted in many communities with
little or no means to recover. Predictable multi-year
humanitarian and development funding will be extremely
critical,” said Brady in a statement issued on Monday.

According to the UN,
despite above-average performance of the Gu rains, some 4.6
million people, including 2.5 million children, still require
humanitarian assistance.

Of these, 1.5
million are in crisis or emergency. Internally displaced persons
(IDPs) are the most vulnerable and in dire need of immediate and
long-term assistance.

Brady warned that
high malnutrition rates prevail across the country, especially
among the highly vulnerable IDP population, noting that the
nutrition status of children under age five remains largely
unchanged.

An estimated 295,000
children are acutely malnourished, among them 55,000 severely
malnourished and in need of urgent life-saving treatment.

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United Nations
urges leaders to unite to stabilize Somalia

MOGADISHU Somalia (Xinhua) --
The UN top envoy in Somalia on Monday called on Somali regional
leaders to unite to stabilize the Horn of Africa nation.

Michael Keating, the
UN secretary-general’s special representative for Somalia, said
Mogadishu’s enormous potential will not be realized unless there
is stability.

“Success depends
upon trust between and collective action by the federal
government and Federal Member States,” Keating told a meeting in
southern port city of Kismayo that brought together presidents
of Puntland, HirShabelle, Galmudug and Southwest states, as well
as Jubaland.

He encouraged the
state leaders to strengthen cooperation between their
governments and the federal authorities.

In a statement
issued in Mogadishu, Keating listed the areas in which action
was needed to achieve this goal.

They included
tangible progress in building security forces that are both
capable and trusted, adopting a justice model, clarifying
constitutional arrangements and power-sharing arrangements,
passing an electoral law, and increasing revenues on the basis
of resource- and revenue-sharing agreements.

“Without these, all
Somalis stand to lose—with them, everybody wins, including the
millions of people who deserve a better quality of life,” the UN
envoy said.

He said the meeting
of the Council of Inter-state Cooperation (CIC) provided an
opportunity to move things forward in the right direction.

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Three killed and
over ten injured in blast in Mogadishu

MOGADISHU Somalia (Xinhua) -- At least three Somali soldiers were killed
and over ten others were injured on Sunday after a car bomb
exploded near the headquarters of Howlwadag district in the
Somali capital of Mogadishu, officials said.

Local government
spokesman Salah Hassan Omar told reporters at the scene that a
suicide car bomb rammed into the district headquarters killing
at least three soldiers.

“The blast resulted
in the death of three soldiers and injured other civilians,” the
spokesman said. The deceased tried to block the vehicle from
passing through the entrance of the administrative capital
located near the main Bakara market.

The blast has also
destroyed the building of the district and nearby school where
several children were injured. Witnesses said the blast was
huge.

“We heard huge blast
at Howlwadag district and learnt that children at school were
hurt in the blast,” an eye witness, Ismail Abdulle, told Xinhua.

The militant group
al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for the latest attack but
did not say the number of the casualties.

Independent sources
told Xinhua tht at least six children were wounded in the
incident which is the latest in a series of terror incidences in
the Horn of African nation.

Pictures from the
scene show massive destruction of buildings.

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Somalia president
in Djibouti to shore up bilateral ties

MOGADISHU Somalia (Xinhua) -- Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo
is in Djibouti for an official visit to shore up bilateral ties
between the two countries.

Presidential
spokesperson Abdinur Mohamed said President Farmajo who is
accompanied by ministers, lawmakers and other senior government
officials will hold talks with his host, President Ismail Omar
Guelleh, on a wide range of issues including strengthening
relations between the two countries.

The visit comes
after Djibouti strongly protested at President Farmajo’s recent
call for lifting of sanctions and economic restrictions on
Eritrea.

Djibouti, which said
it was shocked by the Mogadishu’s position on Eritrea, said it
is “unacceptable” to see Somalia supporting Eritrea at a time
when Asmara is “occupying” Djibouti territory and still denying
having Djiboutian prisoners.

The UN Security
Council imposed sanctions against Eritrea in 2009 for an alleged
tie with Somali extremist groups.

The sanctions were
primarily economic and travel ban on targeted military service
members and selected officials. Asmara has repeatedly denied any
links to the groups.

However, a UN
investigation team issued a report in June 2016 declaring there
was no conclusive evidence to punish Eritrea for alleged ties
with Somalia’s al-Shabab militants.

The Djibouti visit
comes after a delegation from Eritrea led by foreign minister
Osman Saleh was in Mogadishu this week.